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Windows 7: Program shortcuts point to wrong folder locations

First of all, I want to apologize in advance if this has been asked and possibly solved earlier, I tried performing a search but couldn't find anything. If there already is a solution to my problem on the forum, I would be grateful if someone can provide a link.

So basically, my problem is that start menu and desktop shortcuts for all programs I install point to the wrong locations.
This problem started happening after I recently reinstalled Windows, and as always, modified the registry to change the default "Program files" to the D:\ partition (My C:\ partition is reserved for Windows only)

I have made that change on earlier Windows installations, without any issues, but this time, shortcuts for all programs I install point to: D:\Program Files(x86)\, when in reality, most of these programs are 64 bit, and are located in the D:\Program Files\ directory.
The problem seems to only apply to 64 bit applications. If I install a 32 bit program, it will install in the x86 folder, and the shortcut will work properly.

I would greatly appreciate if anyone can come up with a solution to this problem as it is really annoying, because it basically renders all my start menu and desktop shortcuts useless.

Maybe im missing something here but
I thought that you could not put 32bit progs in a 64bit folder and vice versa.
From what youve said, it sounds like you configured that folder as 32bit, but named it 64bit.

Maybe im missing something here but
I thought that you could not put 32bit progs in a 64bit folder and vice versa.
From what youve said, it sounds like you configured that folder as 32bit, but named it 64bit.

Roy

Hi, thank you for your reply. I haven't placed 32 programs in 64 bit folders or vice versa. Programs install properly into their respective folders, the problem is that the program shortcuts point to wrong locations. Shortcuts for 64 bit programs point to the 32 bit folders.

I'm certain Windows doesn't care about cross-overs between c:\program files and c:\program files (x86). I'm not sure haviing a d:\program files is a good idea, that's really coming up against Windows prime.

I don't really have any programs installed in C:\Program Files as I changed the registry to install all programs to D:\Program Files\ and D:\Program Files (x86)\ as soon as I installed Windows.
The problem doesn't seem to be that Windows is confused as to where to install the programs themselves, but rather when creating shortcuts, it's making 64 bit program shortcuts point to the 32 bit folder even though the programs themselves are installed in the correct 64 bit folder.

For example, in the screenshot in my original post, Google Chrome is a 64 bit application, and the path is: D:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
But the shortcut (which was created automatically upon installation) points to: D:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe , which is an invalid path.

These are the registry entries i modified:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion - Changed ProgramFilesDir and ProgramFilesDir (x86) to point to their corresponding locations on drive D:\. I actually just changed the drive letter.

And then I did the exact same change while using run to open %systemroot%\syswow64\regedit and changed the values there as well.

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